Come Marching Home
by Every Shade of Blue
Summary: This began life as part of my Scenes From the Life series, and then morphed into an AU of its own. Lee is a recently discharged military pilot struggling to piece things back together after his return from the warfront. Kara lives in the same apartment building and has trouble taking 'no' for an answer. Naturally, angst and fluff ensue.
1. Chapter 1

_~"Little soldier boy, come marching home."~_

Chapter 1

As soon as the all-too-familiar scent reached her nose, Kara began to pray that the building's smoke detectors wouldn't go off. She had only lived in this apartment for a week, for frak's sake; forcing the entire building to evacuate at two in the morning was the last thing she needed. Quickly switching off the oven, she hesitated for a brief moment, then, bracing herself for the worst, grabbed the handle and pulled.

The second the door was open, black smoke billowed out, filling the room as Kara grabbed for a towel and began to wave it desperately, hoping to clear the air before –

 _Bweeeeeee!_

"Oh, gods…" Kara buried her face in the towel and swore loudly. Already, she could hear the sounds of people moving around in the apartments around hers and beginning to make their way out into the hall. As the sole tenant who knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that there was, in fact, no emergency, Kara took the time to grab her favorite coat off of a chair before reluctantly joining the rest of her fellow tenants in the mass exodus out of the building.

Outside, it wasn't freezing, but it was certainly chilly enough that she was glad she'd thought to bring her coat. Most of the other residents were in their pajamas. A few had grabbed bathrobes. And one…

One was in his underwear. He was standing with his back to her on the fringes of the crowd, shivering, his arms apparently folded tightly across his chest. After pausing for a few moments to take in this interesting scene, Kara's eyes were drawn to a point several feet away from Underwear Guy, where the two sorority girls who lived a few doors down from Kara stood, obviously enjoying the view. Judging by the red that was beginning to creep up the back of Underwear Guy's neck, he had noticed the attention. As Kara watched, he began to take small, nonchalant steps to his right under the pretense of gaining a better view of the newly-arrived fire crew, slowly distancing himself from the girls. Unfortunately for him, though, Sorority Girl One wasn't distracted by the fire trucks, and, noticing his movement, quickly grabbed Sorority Girl Two's arm and dragged her to a position from whence their joint ogling of Underwear Guy could continue uninterrupted.

As Kara's attention turned back to the man in question, she realized that although his new position had done little to throw the horny sorority girls off his scent, it _had_ served to afford her a descent view of his face – among other things. She suddenly found herself taken in by his bright blue eyes, which contrasted sharply with the dark blush that was still heating his cheeks. There was something about those bright – but unmistakably tired – eyes, along with the carefully maintained short cut of his dark hair, that for some reason made Kara think of the military. If he really was military, she thought, with a pretty-boy face like that, he must have had one hell of a right hook. Although, judging by his bare arms, she had a feeling that wasn't a problem.

Pushing such distracting thoughts aside, Kara decided it was time to do something about the sorority girls. In the week that she'd lived in the building, she'd butted heads with the two of them twice already, and she was now reasonably confident that she could scare them off. Sure enough, once she'd positioned herself more or less in between the girls and Underwear Guy, it took little more than an ugly look and a threatening gesture to send them shuffling off toward the opposite side of the crowd. Kara was still watching them retreat with an unashamed grin on her face when a soft voice just behind her right shoulder startled her.

"Thanks for that."

Kara turned quickly and found herself face-to-face with Underwear Guy. He was still blushing and hugging himself against the cold, but the small – albeit rather embarrassed – smile on his face was genuine.

"No problem," Kara answered, shrugging. "You didn't seem to be enjoying the attention, so…"

"Yeah," the man agreed. "They're a bit young and… giggly."

Kara let out a snort of laughter. "I know what you mean." There was a sudden flurry of icy wind, and her companion turned away from her for a moment so that the gusts were at his back. Kara took the opportunity to size him up. He was broad-shouldered but not very tall, and the jacket Kara was wearing had been her father's. She had a feeling it would fit this guy.

He gave her an adorably confused look when she shrugged out of the coat and held it out to him. "What are you doing?"

"What's it look like? You're in your underwear, for frak's sake; you need it more than I do."

"I can't take your coat."

 _Nice to know chivalry's not dead_ , Kara thought exasperatedly. "Look… can I tell you a secret?"

He looked confused again. "I don't… sure?"

Kara moved closer. "I'm the one who set off the fire alarm."

He raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. "Really?"

"Really. I was…" she rolled her eyes, now decidedly embarrassed herself. "I was trying to cook." Ignoring the fact that her new friend was now obviously struggling not to laugh, she thrust the coat at him more insistently. "It's my fault you're stuck standing out here in the middle of the night in your underwear, so would you just take the damn jacket already?"

Finally reigning in his laughter, the man took the coat and slipped it on, relaxing somewhat as it blocked out the wind. Offering a hand that was now, to his great relief, noticeably warmer than it had been before, he said, "My name is Lee, by the way. I live in 2C."

Kara shook his hand briefly. "Kara Thrace. 4F."

"Nice to meet you, Kara Thrace," Lee said with another small grin.

 _Gods, he has a nice smile._ Trying to ignore the thought, Kara asked, "What about you, then? You don't have a last name?"

Lee hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then answered, "Adama. Lee Adama."

For a brief moment, something tugged at the edges of Kara's memory. Then she saw the look of apprehension on Lee's face, and quickly pushed it aside. Wherever it was that she'd heard that name before, he didn't seem to want to talk about it. "So how much longer do you think they'll keep us out here, then?"

Looking relieved at the change of topic, Lee answered quickly, "Probably not too much longer. I mean, once they figure out the place isn't really on fire."

"Yeah…" Kara shuffled her feet sheepishly, now realizing just how biting the wind really was.

Lee grinned slightly. "You know, if you want I could – I could drop by your place sometime and give you some tips. I'm a pretty good cook."

"Hell, just move in and cook for me." Kara could have smacked herself when she saw Lee immediately begin to blush again. It just figured that that soft voice and those big blue eyes were too sensitive for such a brash joke. "Sorry… bad joke."

"No, it's, uh, it's okay," Lee answered a little too quickly. "I knew you were kidding."

On the far side of the crowd, the firemen were beginning to usher people back into the building and returning to their truck. As Lee watched them go, Kara noticed with some surprise that he seemed almost reluctant to go back inside. And that was when it hit her: as tired as Lee seemed, he didn't look like the rest of the people standing around the building. He hadn't been sleeping when the alarm went off; like Kara, he was wide awake.

"Hey," she said on a whim, "you weren't sleeping either, were you?"

Lee glanced at her for a moment and then looked away quickly. Obviously another subject he wasn't too keen on, then. "Not exactly."

"Why don't you come over now, then?" Lee looked at her in surprise, and Kara shrugged. "Well, neither of us can sleep, and I'm getting pretty sick of microwaved meals, so…"

"Okay." Lee studied Kara curiously for a moment, his head tilted slightly to one side. It had been a long time since he'd had a woman invite him into her house, much less a woman he'd just met and in the middle of the night. But there was just something about Kara that he liked.

"Okay," she echoed, returning his gaze and wondering just what the frak she was doing inviting a guy she barely knew into her apartment in the middle of the night. There was just something about Lee that she liked.

At long last, almost seeming to come out of a sort of trance, Lee broke eye contact and blushed again. "Why don't I just, uh… go back to my place and put some pants on?"

Kara couldn't quite contain her snort of laughter. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

Lee's face grew even redder, but this time he laughed, too.

* * *

So yes, if you were wondering, my title is blatantly stolen from "Leaves from the Vine" from Avatar (I know the 'soldier boy' in question dies in that, but shhhh)(this is gonna get angsty so it kinda almost works sort of)(just go with it).  
Anyway, it's been _ages_ since the last time I posted anything on here, and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things, so I can't promise regular updates. I'll try to add to this as often as I can. I'm hoping having it already posted will encourage me to write more, so if you like it and you want to motivate me, feel free to review ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Just a quick note: since I didn't really specify, the setting here is the same as it is for Scenes From the Life - mostly modern AU, but with Battlestar verse-esque elements where they're convenient.  
Also, smut is implied (because they're freaking Lee and Kara, ya know?) but not explicit because I'm not about that life.

* * *

Chapter 2

When Lee woke up in the morning, it took him a moment to remember where he was. Then he became aware of the sleeping form in the bed next to him, and the night before came back to him in a rush. First there had been cooking lessons, then there had been… other activities.

 _Frak…_

He sat up slowly, hoping not to wake Kara. On one hand, he hated to just leave without her knowing. Lee had never been a one night stand kind of guy, and he did genuinely like her – not to mention, she didn't seem like the kind of person one would want to piss off. But on the other hand, he barely knew her. And, to be honest, a new relationship was the last thing he felt like he could handle at the moment.

Standing up carefully, he hurriedly located his scattered clothes and slipped them on as silently as he could, hoping to make it out of the apartment before Kara woke up. He reached for the door – and the hinge squeaked.

"Running away so soon?"

 _Frak!_

Lee reluctantly turned around, finding, to his relief, that Kara didn't look mad. Surprised, maybe, but not mad. "Look, I've never really – really done anything like this before. But I don't think… I can't really…"

"I have done things like this before," Kara said with a faint smirk. "And they usually end this way. This time, though, I wouldn't necessarily mind if it… didn't."

Lee stared at her for a long moment, letting himself wonder what would happen if he agreed. He imagined waking up next to her many more times, making messes in her kitchen, probably giving up and just doing most of the cooking for the both of them anyway. And then he remembered the nightmare that the last few weeks had been – the nightmare that wasn't nearly over yet, and that wasn't going anywhere anytime soon – and the dreamworld vanished.

"I can't."

He turned and left. She didn't try to stop him.

* * *

Kara spent a few more hours in bed, dozing lazily. She wasn't sure if Lee had only gotten up so early because he wanted to leave, or if he was always such an early riser. Hopefully not the latter. Once she finally felt that it was a more reasonable hour to be up and about, she rolled out of bed and wandered into her messy kitchen, perching on one of her barstools and pouring herself a bowl of cereal. Then on a whim, she pulled her computer closer and opened a search engine.

The first result that came up when she entered Lee's name was a local news story. As soon as she read the headline, she knew where she'd recognized him from: "Local Army Pilot Returns Home." She clicked through and skimmed the article from just a few weeks before. According to the story, Lee was a talented fighter pilot who had received an honorable discharge a couple months ahead of schedule when he and another pilot were injured in combat. From there, the site linked to another story from a week before: "Local Army Pilot Killed in Action." Kara didn't read the article, but she vaguely remembered hearing about it on the news. Apparently, the other pilot had been from Lee's squadron.

Kara closed the laptop and stirred her now soggy cereal pensively. She and Lee had had what had started off seeming like a one night stand, until she had impulsively done something she'd never really felt the urge to do before and invited him to stay afterward. As she had rightly suspected, he wasn't the type of person who typically did that sort of thing. And he was… sweet. Sweetness had never been particularly high on the list of things Kara looked for in a man, but Lee wore it well. And, from what she'd observed, he'd enjoyed their night together just as much as she had.

And yet he'd rejected her offer. There was something about his answer, though, something about the way he'd said "I can't" that bothered her. It had sounded… reluctant. Like he knew it was wrong. Like he was making the hardest decision of his life.

And there was that second article, the one about the pilot killed in action. Kara fumbled for a moment before recalling the name: Louanne Katraine. If they'd served in the same squadron, maybe she and Lee had been involved before she died.

Shaking her head, Kara pushed the thoughts aside. Whatever the case, she'd probably be better off leaving Lee alone for a while. It was really none of her business anyway.

* * *

Kara was checking her mailbox when she saw Lee walking past with a duffel bag and backpack, both apparently stuffed full. He looked like his week hadn't improved much since he'd left her apartment a few mornings earlier.

"Where are you off to?"

For a brief moment, Lee looked as though he was considering pretending he hadn't heard her. But then he made his way over to join her, dropping the duffel with a soft thud. "I don't know. A hotel, I guess." At Kara's inquisitive look, he explained further. "The idiot in the apartment above mine flooded the place. I came home and found water coming through the ceiling and everything soaked."

"That sucks," Kara replied, noticing that there were indeed water stains on the bag. "A hotel, though? Isn't there anyone you could stay with?"

For some reason, the question seemed to make Lee even more uncomfortable. "My parents live just outside the city. But… we don't really see each other much."

"Don't get along?"

"You could say that."

Kara didn't quite believe him, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Right. Well, you can crash at my place for a few days if you want."

"Seriously?"

Kara shrugged nonchalantly. "What?"

"Even after… the other night?"

Kara smirked, tossing a few envelopes into a trash can and tucking the rest under her arm as she headed for the stairs. "I've slept with a lot of guys, Lee. You're no different."

"What? No, I know that…" Lee stammered, reddening. "It's just… are you sure?" he called after her as she walked away.

"As sure as I know you're in charge of all the cooking." With a cheeky wink, she disappeared up the stairs.

Lee hesitated for a minute, then picked up his bag with a sigh and followed her. He hated hotels. "I am definitely going to regret this."

* * *

Next up: things get angsty!


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry about the long wait! I've been away for a couple weeks, but now that I'm back home I should have more time to write. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. It's a little longer than the last two, and it's got everyone's favorite Spaceparents in it!

* * *

Chapter 3

Something woke Kara at two in the morning. She thought it might have been some kind of noise, but at the moment she was far too tired to care. Pulling her comforter over her head, she started to drift off again.

There was another quiet whimper from the next room.

"Lee…" Kara sighed. Of course he had nightmares. She quietly got out of bed and pushed her door open just enough to slip through but not enough to make it creak. In the dim light that filtered through her thin curtains, she could see Lee tossing and turning on the couch, sweat beading on his face. As she watched, he began to breathe rapidly, crying out in what sounded like fear. Kara sat on the edge of her coffee table, shaking his shoulder.

"Lee. Hey, Lee!"

He sat up with a startled gasp, panting heavily and shaking. He stared at her in confusion for a moment, and then tears filled his eyes and he pulled his knees up to his chest, pressing his face into them and raking his fingers through his hair.

Watching him, Kara was suddenly struck by how young he looked. He wasn't the dashing hero she'd read about in the news article. He wasn't the laughing young man who had teased her through a long night of cooking lessons. Suddenly, he was just a terrified boy with no one to turn to. On an impulse, she slid onto the couch next to him, and pulled him down next to her. To her surprise, he didn't question it; instead he buried his face in her shoulder, muffling a choked sob. It was quickly followed by another, and still another.

Kara held him until long after he had cried himself out and fallen back into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

Lee was still fast asleep when she woke late the next morning. Looking at the dark circles under his eyes, she couldn't help wondering how long it had been since he'd last gotten a decent night's sleep. She hated to move, but it was late and she was getting hungry. She wondered how long it would be before –

Her stomach growled. Lee stirred, murmuring something unintelligible and reaching up to rub his eyes as he slowly woke. It wasn't long before a pair of soft baby blues were blinking up at her in confusion.

"Kara?"

"'Morning," she responded lightly.

Lee's eyes widened and he sat up quickly, moving to the opposite end of the couch. "What – what happened last night?"

"We didn't frak again, if that's what you're asking," Kara answered with a lazy smirk.

Predictably, Lee blushed.

Kara sobered then and asked, "So what was your nightmare about?"

Lee winced when he remembered, rubbing his face tiredly. "Nothing. It's nothing. It doesn't matter. Please, just… just forget about it."

"It didn't seem like nothing when you started screaming," Kara said bluntly.

Lee swore quietly and pulled his legs up, resting his forehead against his knees, arms crossed tightly over his chest. It was the same position he'd curled into after his nightmare, an obvious defensive posture. It was his way of soothing himself, of hiding from the world.

Kara sighed. "All right, look… I found this news article the other day. I know you were a pilot. I know you just got discharged a few weeks ago. And I know – I know about that other pilot who died. I'm guessing you knew her."

Lee's shoulders tensed, and he raised his head slightly. "I knew her," he whispered, his voice barely audible. There was a long, heavy silence, broken only by Lee's too-heavy breathing as he struggled to relax. Finally, in a voice even smaller than before, he added, "She was my best friend."

He wouldn't say any more.

* * *

Lee had just gotten in the shower when Kara noticed his phone stuck between two of the couch cushions. She pulled it out and laid it on the coffee table so it wouldn't get lost. Then she picked it up again, staring at the blank screen indecisively. Lee had told her the day before that he didn't get along with his parents, but Kara knew what that was like, and in his case something about it just didn't ring true. For a second, she almost decided that what she was thinking about doing was too intrusive. But then she changed her mind.

"If it's password protected, I'll forget about it," she decided. "If not…" She clicked the screen on and swiped her thumb across it. It unlocked. "Probably should've put a password on it, Lee," she muttered, already scrolling through his contacts. There weren't very many – but there was a 'Dad.' Kara clicked on it and copied down the number, then replaced the phone and stepped outside to make a call. She didn't particularly want Lee walking in on this.

* * *

As Kara drove out of the city, she was amazed to find just how quickly the suburbs turned into the country. She had barely left behind the last housing plan when thick, green woods sprang up on either side of the road. Despite having lived in the city for several years, she'd never had a reason to drive this way before. Truth be told, she still wasn't sure she did. She barely knew Lee, after all. What if she got to his parents' house and all they did was tell her to butt out of their son's business? Wondering for the umpteenth time if this was at all worth it, Kara nonetheless drove on.

It wasn't long before she was turning off of the main road and onto a long, winding driveway, utterly baffled as to what she should be expecting to find at the end of it. And when she at last reached the end, Bill and Laura Adama's house did not disappoint.

It wasn't particularly large; in fact, it was decidedly on the small side, but its size really only served to make it seem more cozy. It was more of a cabin than a house, down to the curl of smoke drifting lazily from the chimney. There was even a wide front porch with two wooden rocking chairs that Kara had a suspicion were handmade. After she'd parked, she continued to sit in her car for several more minutes, wondering if this was the house Lee had grown up in. If it was, she envied him. She herself had grown up in a house, but this… this was a _home_.

Finally shaking herself from her reverie, Kara got out of the car and stepped up onto the porch, hesitated for a moment, then knocked on the door. After just a few seconds, it was opened by a man Kara could only assume was Lee's father. He looked to be about the same height as Lee, or perhaps just a bit taller, with the same piercing blue eyes. His face was weathered and lined, and his hair was greying, but from his bearing Kara got the distinct impression of an old soldier.

"You must be Kara."

His voice was much deeper than Lee's, and had a gravelly, no-nonsense tone to it. For an absurd moment, Kara had to resist the urge to salute.

"Yes, sir."

He studied her for a moment longer, and then stood to one side, motioning for her to come in. "Have a seat. Make yourself at home."

Kara entered the living room and chose a comfortable looking chair, but as her definition of making herself "at home" involved kicking her shoes off and putting her feet up on the coffee table, she refrained from doing any more than sitting.

Bill Adama closed the door behind her and stepped through another one at the side of the room. Kara caught a glimpse of rows of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

"Laura, she's here," she heard Bill say. Then there was the murmur of a short conversation, too quiet for Kara to hear. She took the opportunity to look around the room, her gaze quickly settling on the fireplace. There were quite a few photos on the mantel above it. Many of them had a little boy who was unmistakably Lee. In some of them, he was with his father. Interestingly, though, his mother didn't seem to appear in any of the pictures until Lee was at least into his teens. Before Kara could give it too much thought, though, there was a sound of movement from the next room, and when Bill reappeared, his wife was with him, a book tucked under her arm. When she saw Kara, she set it aside and moved to shake her hand, smiling warmly.

"I'm Laura. It's nice to meet you, Kara."

"Likewise," Kara answered, nodding. Until she was sure the Adamas didn't resent her intrusion into their personal lives, it seemed best not to say too much. She waited while they settled onto a sofa on the opposite side of the coffee table from her own chair.

"You said on the phone that you wanted to talk about Lee?" Laura asked once she was seated.

"I live in his building. We met last week, and now he's staying with me while they fix some water damage in his apartment."

"Water damage?" Bill asked. Judging by the looks on both of their faces, this was news to them.

"Yeah, the people in the apartment above his flooded the place…" she trailed off, hesitating. There really didn't seem to be any reason why Lee couldn't have stayed with his family instead of with a woman he barely knew. "You haven't talked to him in a while, have you?"

Bill shook his head. "Not since the day he came back from his deployment."

Kara nodded. "I found a news article about it. How he was hurt and another pilot was killed in action. When I asked him about it, he told me they were friends."

"They were," Bill confirmed quietly, sadly. "He'd known Kat since…"

"High school," Laura supplied. "They met their junior year. They were the two best candidates for the same ROTC program, and it made them… competitive," she said with a slight smile. "Once they stopped hating each other, they became best friends."

"What happened to her?" Kara asked, wondering even as she spoke if she was going too far. Discretion never had been her strong suit.

But Bill didn't seem to mind the question. "That's what we'd like to know. She died in the same engagement where Lee was injured, but he wouldn't give us any more detail than that." He shook his head. "The day Lee came back, there was a ceremony. He'd already been officially discharged, but his actions in battle that day earned him a commendation. They gave him a medal for it, and he just stood there looking like all he wanted to do was run. He looked…"

"Lost," Laura finished softly. Despite the somber topic at hand, Kara had to hide a grin at the way Laura kept finishing her husband's sentences for him.

"He looked lost," Bill agreed. "Once it was over, we brought him here for a welcome home dinner. He barely talked all evening. And then he left, and… well, we haven't seen him since."

Kara frowned. She'd known it was a lie when Lee told her that he and his parents didn't get along. But then what reason could he possibly have for avoiding them for so long?

"So how is he?" Bill asked abruptly.

Kara got the distinct impression that he'd wanted to ask that question since the moment he'd opened the door, and could hold himself back no longer. Despite his outwardly calm appearance, she could clearly see worry for his son bleeding through.

"He's…" She hesitated, wondering for a brief moment if it would be kinder to lie. But it was obvious that they both loved Lee far too much for that. "…not so good," she finished at last.

Bill and Laura shared a quick, knowing glance, Kara's admission only confirming what they had already suspected. Bill sighed quietly. "That's what I thought."

* * *

Next time: more pieces in the puzzle of What's Wrong With Lee Adama (hint: it's not just what happened to Kat).


End file.
